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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Tommy's Top Six of 2012 and Birthday Blog Giveaway

My blog officially turns three years old today, and has
taken on a life of its own. I’m kinda proud of that. It is time for me to name
my Top Six of 2012, the six books that stood out the most to me, under the
following criteria: 1) I had to have had no involvement in the production of
the book. 2) Only one title per publisher. 3) I had to have reviewed the book
between the time I made last year’s selections and the beginning of December
this year (to give me time to contact the publishers for the Birthday Blog
Giveaway). Without further ado, in alphabetical order, the Tommy’s Top Six of
2012:

Why You Should Buy It: I loved the concept of the original
Little Fears, with kids taking on the things that go bump in the night…but
Jason L. Blair says he’s grown as a designer, and it’s clear to me that he has.
This version is mechanically tighter in every way, with lots of cool stuff like
Belief, which is generally more powerful, the younger your kid is.
Additionally, the line is well supported with a supplement (Among the Missing)
as well as microsupplements (Campfire Tales). Some of the background elements
from the first version of the game still remain, while others are completely
overhauled. Monster creation rules, plot seeds galore…this is one of the two
best options I’ve seen for “kids versus monsters”, and it is the only one of
the two currently being supported by the publisher. Whether you prefer “Monster
Squad” or “Stephen King’s IT”, Little Fears Nightmare Edition has what you
need, taking a good concept and backing it up with tighter writing and rules
than the original.

Why You Should Buy It: While Marvel Heroic has yet to knock
off Marvel SAGA as my supers game of choice, or even my Marvel game of choice,
it is going to be easier to find players for than my beloved SAGA, due to the
fact that it’s in print and currently supported. Additionally, MWP have taken a
licensed RPG and tried to lower the barriers for entry as best they can, with a
reduced price point and even multiple entry points, with each of the first
books in their Event series having a version that includes the Marvel Heroic
rules. The first event series has already been completed this year, covering
the events of Civil War, but while you may need a bit more knowledge of the
event than is provided in the books, the Event itself is anything other than a
paint-by-numbers railroad back through the events of the comics. Indeed, MWP’s
Events allow you room to take the framework of the Event and let your players
cut loose in it. MWP’s also provided some great freebie releases, including
random character generation, as well as supplements that included not only Thor
and Hulk, but plot seeds for including them in Civil War. Add in the “Unlockables”,
and you get a superhero advancement system that does a better job of emulating
comics better than the standard “zero to hero” progression found in most RPGs.

Why You Should Buy It: Random chart after random chart after
random chart. In my opinion, it is the best RPG I have seen for insane, gonzo,
post-apocalyptic action. The main mutation table is a d1000, for pete’s sake. The
rulebook covers most everything you need to get started, even providing
alternate apocalypse justifications like zombies or aliens. The game has some
fantastic support, with a ton of freebies available at the Outland Arts
website, as well as the Excavator Monthly magazine and more. It is just one of
the easiest games in the world to roll up characters, roll up random
encounters, etc. No planning needed, just dice! A post-apoc game tailor-made
for my tastes…I can’t NOT recommend it.

Why You Should Buy It: Very few PostApoc games really “speak”
to me, despite how this list may look, but Reclamation did just that with its
theme of hope and defiance in the face of a crumbling world. No, it’s not going
to be easy to take the world back, but it has to be done. Not only is there
hope in the crumbling reality, but the PCs ARE that flame of hope. The five
Marks provide more focus than your standard mutation tables, as well as the
cool, thematic nastiness of the Sickness overtaking your heroes for using the
powers they develop. For a more “heroic” and “focused” PostApoc game, it is hard
to go wrong with Reclamation, with the concept and powers combining to give
Reclamation that extra “punch” above and beyond the typical PostApoc RPG.

Why You Should Buy It: Savage Worlds is my favorite in-print
RPG. Maybe my favorite of all time. In addition, I am a HUGE fan of the
Explorer’s Edition format, providing the rules at a low-cost entry point while
relying on the supplementary sales. As for the game itself? For me the proof is
in the fun. I’ve ran the game over multiple genres and multiple sessions, and
as my Necessary Evil game concludes, I’m hard pressed to think of a campaign
that has been more epic or more deeply personal. Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer’s
Edition also adds a healthy dose of new material, including new Edges and
several options for you to use to tweak your games, making the Savage Worlds
rules even more self-contained and versatile than they already were. It is $10
for a system that I have used to run westerns, horror, supers, fantasy and
swashbuckling, and later this year we plan to use it to bring some of our
favorite D&D settings back to life. There’s a reason I called the original Explorer’s
Edition my best RPG purchase.

Why You Should Buy It: A great game of investigative horror,
tremulus introduced me to the Apocalypse Engine games, causing me to also pick
up Dungeon World and Monster of the Week. The set-up with the Playbooks having
all of the Moves already printed on them made the game incredibly easy for us
to pick up, and I have yet to encounter any “Player Facing” oddities like I
normally do in such games. Additionally, the Ebon Eaves town creation is a very
interesting subsystem, as we did the town creation and dropped into gameplay all
in about half an hour, without any prior preparation. Even better, as good as
the main rulebook is, the material slated to come is even cooler. The product
of a massively successful Kickstarter, tremulus made it to our table shortly
after its release, and is very likely to come back very soon.

And now, for the part you all really want to see: The free
stuff we have to offer, and the rules for entering the contest.

As with the last two years, we had prizes donated by all six
of the selected publishers…but this year, we also had the wonderful people at
Fable Environments offer us prize support, making this the biggest giveaway we
have ever offered!

That is eleven big prizes from
seven great publishers, helping me say THANK YOU to each and every one of you
for reading this blog!

To enter, simply send me an
e-mail to tommyb(a)sstelco(dot)com, with the subject (minus the quotes)
"Happy Birthday Blog", listing your order of preference for the
prize. Once I have closed entries by 11:59 PM Central Time on January 15th, I
will use a randomizer to determine the winners...#1 gets their first choice, #2
gets their first available choice (their first choice if it wasn't taken,
second if it was, and so on).

Thank you once again for
reading this blog, and thank you to the seven publishers for providing prize
support for this giveaway! Do yourself a favor and support them, because they
all make fantastic games and gaming supplements!

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